Eagle Strike alternative chapter
by IAmADangerousMuteLunatic
Summary: Takes place during chapter EAGLE STRIKE in book EAGLE STRIKE. Alex and Sabina have been locked in a cellar together... not sure if it's K or T, but I'll mark it T to be on the safe side.


EAGLE STRIKE

Alex and Sabina were taken to a room somewhere in the basement of the house and thrown inside. The door closed and suddenly they were alone.

Alex signalled to Sabina not to speak, then began to make a quick search. The door was a slab of solid oak, locked from the outside and probably bolted too. There was a single square window set high up in the wall, but it was barred and wouldn't have been big enough to crawl through anyway. There was no view. The room might once have been used to store wine; the walls were bare and undecorated, the floor was concrete, and apart from a few shelves there was no furniture. A naked bulb hung on a wire from the ceiling. Alex was looking for hidden bugs. It was unlikely that Cray would want to eavesdrop on the two of them, but even so he wanted to be sure that they couldn't be overheard.

It was only when Alex had gone over every inch of the room that he turned to Sabina. She seemed amazingly calm. He thought about all the things that had happened to her. She had been kidnapped and kept prisoner – bound and gagged. She had been brought face to face with the man who had ordered the execution of her father, and had listened as he outlined his mad idea to destroy half the world. And here she was locked up again with the near certainty that she and Alex wouldn't be allowed to leave here alive. Sabina should have been terrified. But she simply waited quietly until Alex had completed his checks, watching him as if seeing him for the first time.

'Are you OK?' he asked at last.

'Alex…' It was only when she tried to speak that the emotion came. She took a breath and fought for control. 'I don't believe this is happening,' she said.

'I know. I wish it wasn't.' Alex didn't know what to say. 'Where did they get you?' he asked.

'At the hospital. There were three of them.'

'Did they hurt you?'

'They scared me. And they gave me some sort of injection.' She scowled. 'God – Damian Cray is such a creep! And I never realised he was so – _small_!'

That made Alex smile despite everything. Sabina hadn't changed.

But she was serious. 'As soon as I saw him, I thought of you. I knew you'd been telling the truth all along and I felt so rotten for not believing you.' She stopped. 'You really are what you said. A spy!'

'Not exactly…'

'Do MI6 know you're here?'

'No.'

'But you must have some sort of gadgets. You told me they gave you gadgets. Haven't you got exploding shoelaces or something to get us out of here?'

'I haven't got anything. MI6 don't even know I'm here. After what happened in the bank – in Liverpool Street – I sort of went after Cray on my own. I was just so angry after the way they tricked you and lied about me. I was stupid. I mean, I had the flash drive in my hand… and I gave it back to Cray!'

Sabina understood. 'You came here to rescue me,' she said.

'Some rescue!'

'After the way I treated you, you should have just dumped me.'

'I don't know, Sab. I thought I had it all worked out. I thought they'd let you go and everything would turn out all right. I had no idea…' Alex kicked at the door. It was as solid as rock. 'We have to stop him,' he said. 'We have to do something.'

'Maybe he was making it up,' Sabina suggested. 'Think about it. He said he was going to fire twenty-five missiles all around the world. American missiles. But they're all controlled in the White House. Only the American president can set them off. Everyone knows that. So what's he going to do? Fly to Washington and try to break in?'

'I wish you were right.' Alex shook his head. 'But Cray's got a huge organisation. He's put years of planning and millions of pounds into this. He's got Yassen Gregorovich working for him. He must know something we don't.'

He went over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. 'Listen,' he said. 'This is going to sound really big-headed and you know I'd never normally tell you what to do. But the thing is, I have sort of been here before…'

'What? Locked up by a maniac who wants to destroy the world?'

'Well, yes. Actually I have.' He sighed. 'My uncle was trying to turn me into a spy when I was still in short trousers. I never even realised it. And it's true what I told you. They made me train with the SAS. Anyway, the truth is… I know things. And it may be that we do get a chance to get back at Cray. But if that happens, you have to leave everything to me. You have to do what I say.'

Sabina looked at him. 'Do you think I'd try and do it myself? Of course I'll do what you say. But it was my dad he tried to kill. And I can tell you, if Cray leaves a kitchen knife lying around, I'm going to shove it somewhere painful…'

'It may already be too late,' Alex said gloomily. 'Cray may just leave us here. He could have already left.'

'I don't think so. I think he needs you for something – I don't know what. Maybe it's because you came closest to beating him…'

Alex looked at her, and squeezed her shoulders gently. 'I'm glad you're with me.'

Sabina looked into his eyes. 'I'm glad I'm with you.'

They sat down against the hard stone wall. Sabina leant against Alex and he put his other arm around her. She snaked her arms around his waist. They held each other close, holding on to the last solid thing in their lives – each other.

Alex moved his head and let his cheek rest on top of her head. Sabina buried her face in his neck. He could feel her body shaking slightly with unescaped sobs and he tightened his grip around her. 'It's OK…' he whispered, gently rocking her. 'Shhh…' He could feel her tears soaking through his T-shirt and she drew back, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

'I'm sorry,' she sniffed. 'I'm getting your shirt all wet.'

He laughed softly. 'Do you really think I care about my T-shirt right now?' She smiled a little, but the tears still trickled down her cheeks. 'Hey…' Alex reached out and tenderly wiped away her tears. 'Don't cry, Sab.' He pulled her close to him and gently stroked her hair, rocking her. 'Don't cry. I'm here.'

Sabina's hands were at the base of his neck. She trailed her fingers through his hair as he rocked her. It was soft, like downy fluff on a new-born chick. Alex moved his head and kissed her temple. He felt her tense slightly, as he kissed her. When he drew back, she looked at him with tear-filled, questioning eyes.

'Why…?' she began. Alex stiffened. He felt so stupid.

'I – I'm sorry, Sabina. I didn't –'

'Sorry?' she whispered. 'Why are you sorry? I – it wasn't like I didn't want you to.' She looked in his eyes. 'I just wanted to know why… I wanted to know – if you felt the same.'

Alex's heart started beating faster. He couldn't believe she had just said that. 'The – the same?'

'The same way I feel about you,' Sabina cupped his cheek and stroked it with her thumb.

'How do you feel about me?' Alex whispered.

Sabina answered by guiding his face towards hers. She pressed her lips ever-so lightly onto his. Alex felt his pulse speed up a mile and could feel hers under his fingers, on her neck. It was pounding a mile a minute. Sabina drew back and looked at him.

'That's how I feel.'

Not knowing what caused it, Alex felt the tears fill his eyes. 'Oh, Sabina!' he whispered, stroking her hair back from her forehead. Sabina, concern filling her beautiful face as the tears spilled from Alex's eyes, brought him close and held onto him as though her life depended on it. 'Hey…' she stroked his hair as he broke down on her shoulder, the tears now seeping through _her_ shirt. 'Don't cry, Alex.' She laughed softly. '_I'm_ the one who should be crying. I'm the girl.'

'I'm sorry,' Alex wept, clinging on to her. 'It's just…' he drew back to look at her. 'I got you into this stupid mess and I don't know how we're going to get out of it. I led you into terrible danger. And here you are, confessing your love to me and all can do is cry and be incapable of telling you that I love you back!'

Sabina gasped faintly. 'You love me back?' she whispered.

'Of course I do!' Alex wiped the tears from his eyes. 'How could I not? You're gorgeous and sexy and absolutely beautiful and kind and thoughtful and generous and… and I love you more than anything. And I have for a long time,' Alex held her tight and looked deep into her eyes. 'I love you, Sabina!'

'Oh, Alex!' Sabina kissed him fully on the lips. She felt the tears fall from her own eyes to match the ones trickling down Alex's cheeks. 'I love you, too!'

Alex clutched at her and kissed her with some sort of desperation. He was on fire. Here he was, facing almost certain death, with the girl of his dreams in his arms, kissing her. And what's more, she was kissing him back. She was the only thing left in his world at that moment and he felt that, if he let her go, his heart would surely break.

How long they sat there, with their arms around each other and kissing passionately, they didn't know. But the moment was ruined when the sound of keys jangled in the lock and the door creaked open.

Alex and Sabina jerked apart as the guard entered, but he had seen enough to make him leer unpleasantly. 'So,' he jeered, 'what's going on here then?'

_He really is an idiot_, thought Alex – hadn't he just seen them locked mouth to mouth? But the guard was approaching, his gun in his arms. He grabbed Sabina by the hair and yanked her to a standing position. Her cry of pain sent anger and hurt through Alex's heart and it was all he could do to stop himself from lashing out. He knew the gun would be firing at him within a split-second if he did. But that didn't stop him from yelling, 'Don't touch her!'

The guard glared at him. 'Your girlfriend will have worse than that done to her if you don't do as I say,' he said nastily. Still holding on to Sabina's hair he gestured with the gun for Alex to come to him.

Alex didn't move. He let out a yell of pain as the guard struck him on the head with the barrel of the gun. He crumpled to the floor with his hands over his head.

'Alex!' Sabina cried, but quelled under the glare from the guard. The unpleasant man bent down to roughly haul Alex back up…

…and let go of Sabina's hair.

Sabina stood still for a second, then realised what to do. The guard was bent over, one hand reaching down to grab Alex's hair, and that was when she moved. She jumped onto his back, one arm closing tightly around his neck, her other hand tangling itself painfully in his hair.

The guard yelled and tried to shake her off, but then Alex sprang into action. His foot came up and collided somewhere in between the guard's legs, right in the part where it hurts. The guard let out a howl of pain and clutched at his crotch, allowing Alex to wrench the gun from his grasp. He swung the gun with all his might and it collided with a sickening _thwack_ onto the guard's skull. He staggered slightly, his eyes rolling up to the back of his head, then keeled over and fell to the floor with a crash.

Sabina climbed off his back and stared at the large mass on the floor in front of them, a trickle of blood running down from the guard's forehead where Alex had struck him with his own gun. She was breathing heavily, but seemed unhurt. They looked at each other, and then laughed slightly. She came to him and put her arms around his neck again, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, the gun still in one hand. 'Nice work, Sab,' he said into her hair.

She laughed. 'You did most of it,' she spoke into his shoulder.

'Yeah, but you distracted him. It wouldn't have worked if you hadn't.' They let go of each other, then both looked down at the gun.

'Do you know how to use it?' asked Sabina.

'I think so. I've seen ones like it before.' He weighed it in his hand, then turned back to her. 'Come on, we'd better get out of here. We need to find Damian Cray and stop him.'

Sabina smiled. 'Good plan. Simple, easy to remember…' She smirked slightly as Alex smiled. She hadn't changed a bit. 'Come on. Let's go.'

They walked towards the door, leaving the unconscious guard behind. As they left the cellar, they took each other's hand, their fingers lacing together as they walked to find the man who, not only had made their lives hell, but had also unintentionally brought them together at last.


End file.
